An audio follow mixer may be used in a variety of ways in order to process a plurality of audio signals. In most applications, it is useful to monitor the audio signals which are being processed by routing selected audio signals in the mixer to one or more monitor output terminals located on the mixer. These terminals may then provide one or more audio channels to one or more monitor devices, such as speakers.
In a typical application, the mixer is used for audio editing in conjunction with an editor and a plurality of other devices, such as VTRs, which provide input signals to the mixer as well as receive output signals from the mixer. In such a system, the editor controls the mixer to process various audio signals in the mixer. That is, various input signals may be mixed and then output from the mixer according to control signals supplied to the mixer by the editor.
In order to facilitate this operation, many mixers provide an "editor mode" selector which places all functions of the mixer under control of the editor, including the selection of monitor output signals. Thus, the editor may be used to select various monitor output signals, as well as to control the output to other devices such as VTRs used for recording.
One drawback of these prior art mixer systems is that if the user wishes to control the selection of monitor output signals with an editor, the entire mixer must be placed under crossfade control by the editor. Thus, while under crossfade control, the other functions of the mixer cannot be controlled in other ways, for example, through a control panel on the mixer itself. Instead, these other functions must be controlled indirectly through the editor.
Another related drawback of these mixer systems is that when the mixer is placed under crossfade control by the editor, no monitor output signal may be selected directly using the mixer itself. Therefore, only those monitor output signals selected with the editor are available for monitoring.
Consequently, there is a need to provide a more flexible way of enabling the selection of monitor audio signals independent of crossfade control of a mixer by an editor.